Memorial of a Delegation of the Cherokee Nation of Indians

Government Document

Background Notes

One of the strategies developed to deal with
the conflict between white American settlers and Native American lands was to
negotiate treaties which voluntarily exchanged the lands of Indian tribes in
the east for lands west of the Mississippi.
Five assimilated tribes, the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminoles,
known as the “Five Civilized Tribes” negotiated approximately thirty treaties
with the United States
between 1789 and 1825. In 1824, President Monroe announced to Congress that he
thought all Indians should be relocated west of the Mississippi. Monroe
was pressured by the state of Georgia
to make his statement because gold had been discovered on Cherokee land in
Northwest Georgia and the state of Georgia wanted to claim it. The
Cherokee’s resisted and sought to maintain their land. They had adopted a
formal constitution, declared an independent Cherokee nation, and elected John
Ross as their Chief in 1828. As
expected, the Georgia
legislature annulled the Cherokee constitution and ordered seizure of their
lands. The Cherokees again resisted and took their claim of sovereignty to the United States
Supreme court. In their second case, Worcester
v. Georgia, (1832) Supreme
Court Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokee Nation was entitled
to federal protection over those of the state laws of Georgia. The
Court ruled “the Indian nation was a “distinct community in which the laws of Georgia can
have no force” and into which Georgians could not enter without the permission
of the Cherokees themselves or in conformity with treaties. Although the
Supreme Court ruled in their favor, the state of Georgia confiscated the Cherokee
lands, surveyed them into 40 acre lots and distributed to white settlers
through a lottery system. The names of the counties were changed to reflect
their new owners. The county here, Union
County, was one of the
regions where gold had been discovered on Cherokee lands and started the first
gold rush in 1829.

Robert
V. Hine and John Mack Faragher, The American West, A New Interpretive
History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), 176;235-236;Mary Beth Norton et al,A People and a Nation; A History of the
United States. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986), 287-290.

Transcription of Primary Source

21st
Congress[Rep.
No. 397.]Ho. of Reps

1stSession

CHEROKEE INDIANS

–

Memorial

of a

Delegation of the Cherokee Nation of Indians.

May 10, 1830.

Read,
and laid upon the table.

To the honorable Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America
in Congress assembled:

The undersigned memorialists,
under the authority of the Cherokee Nation,

Respectfully
Showeth:

That, in consequence of a
pretended claim set up by the State of Georgia to a large portion of the lands
belonging to their nation, under the pretext of having been purchased from the
Creeks, the Executive of the United States has proceded to change and alter the
established boundary line of said nation, and to allot the said State a
considerable portion thereof; against which we solemnly protest before your
honorable bodies, in behalf of the aforesaid Cherokee nation. A line of
separation between the two nations was agreed upon, marked out, and permanently
established, to the satisfaction of both parties, in 1802; and they do not
consider that it is within the range of Executive duties to remove the “landmarks”
of any tribe or nation, contrary to its consent, and the established principals
heretofore pursued by this Government. It is believed to be unjust, because the
line declared by the Executive is one never contended for by the aforesaid
State, the Cherokees or the Creeks, at any period of time whatever; nor ever
thought of by the two latter; and, also, as the claim first set up to these
lands was under the treaty of “Indian Springs,” after its abrogation, and since veered to that negotiated by Thomas
L. McKenney; and, moreover, as they have ever been in the peaceable occupancy
of the Cherokees, the Creeks disclaiming any right, title, claim, or interest,
in or to them, and were never in any treaty or articles of cession subsisting
between them and the General Government, nor ever so understood to be by either
of the contracting parties.

In tracing and establishing this
line of separation, neither deemed it essential, or that the sanction of the
Government was necessary to its confirmation before it could be valid and
binding. It concerned only them; and as neither ceded or transferred any portion of land or title to the other, or
altered in any manner boundaries fixed by treaty, nor infringed in any way upon

the statutes of the United States
or subsisting treaties, they did not conceive how or in what respect it became
necessary for the Government to become a third party in the arrangement. At the
two extremities, the points to which the claims to territory extended, were
defined and recognized by the Government in treaties, viz: at the “High Shoals
of the Apalachy,” now in Georgia, and at the “low end of the Ten Islands,” in
Coosa river, Alabama, from which two points, or rather the former, having been
drawn to the Chattahoochie River; by subsequent cessions it became expedient
that a direct line, from one point to the other, should be marked out by
persons duly appointed and authorized. It passed entirely through Indian territory; and they, of all others, knew the best
extent of their just claims. This being the case, it was a matter to be settled
by themselves. The Government was made fully sensible of all that had occurred;
and, for ten years, not a whisper of expectation or disapprobation heard. On
the Contrary, this line was regarded
by the Government, and all its Commissioners, in negotiating and forming
subsequent treaties, by the constituted authorities of Georgia, in their
legislation, and by the Surveyors who executed the orders of both the General
and State Government; and, it is believed, but for the prevailing anxiety to
acquire Indian lands, and the removal of those unfortunate people beyond the
limits of the States and desirable country, ages might have passed away, and
this act remained valid to all interests and purposes.

We respectfully solicit your
attention to this important subject; and rely, with the utmost assurance, that
ample justice be done to all parties.

We beg leave, also, to represent
before you the grievances of our people, upon another subject of vital importance
to their interests and peace, within the acknowledged limits of their own
territory and jurisdiction.

A treaty was concluded by the
Government with the Arkansas Cherokees, in 1828; through which allurements were
offered to the Cherokees East of the Mississippi, to induce their removal West
of that river; and in which it was further stipulated, that the United States
will make to an emigrant “a just compensation for the property he may abandon, to be assessed by persons to be appointed
by the President of the United States;” under which article appraisers have
been appointed to value the improvements
claimed by those enrolling for emigration, and payment promised to the Arkansas
Agency. Many of the improvements thus valued, after being left by emigrants,
were taken possession of by white families, citizens of the United States, and other natives.
By the orders recently issued by the Department of War to the United States’
Agent, to cause the removal of intruders, all such white families as have
entered and settled in the nation, as before stated, are exempted from removal, and the agent is privileged to issue them
permits to remain; and it is contended, that, by the valuation of, and payment
for these improvements, the United States have acquired an interest and title
in the soil; and which, by the
compact of 1802, inured to the benefit of Georgia; and as it had been reported
to the Government that many of those white families had entered and settled
under the sanction of the State authority, it was not in the power of Executive
authority, it was not in the power of Executive Government to interfere in the
acts of sovereign State, by ordering and causing their removal out of the
nation. The Cherokees deeply regret the circumstances by which they have been left
so long left to the exposure and ravages of intruders, and a class of
population not their own, thus permitted to be scattered

through the country, scarce restrained by
either moral or civil law. They are but the dregs of civilized society, the fugitives
for the most part, from the justice of their own laws, whose studied purpose
and design it is to trample under foot the rights of the Indians, often
appropriating to themselves the benefit of their property. The outrages already
committed speak a language all must understand, if the intolerable
perpetrations of such persons be permitted, by permanent location, under the
authority of the Government. We do not solicit and urge the necessity of their
removal upon the plea of humanity alone, but as an act of justice due our
nation, founded on the numerous and solemn pledges of the Government, and its
own statutes.

The Cherokees disavow, and, in
their behalf, we respectfully protest the right of any tribe or nation of
Indians, whether Arkansas Cherokees or not, when entering into treaties, to
insert articles that will, in any way, affect the rights and privileges
recognised [sic] and guarantied to our nation. The valuation of
improvements made under that treaty, does not bind our nation–we were not party
to the instrument.If itcontemplated the acquirement of soil from us,
by paying to individuals the
appraised value of their labor upon the soil, and the word “property” was
intended to mean lands, so far as it
regards the lands of our nation, it
can be of no effect. It was not an act of ours, nor by consent did the nation
acquiesce its validity to affect our rights of soil. The lands, are, moreover,
held in common, and not in severalty;
and it is not an established principal and law, that no individual can, contrary to the will and consent of the legal
authorities, cede to the United
States any portion thereof, or transfer any
title to the same. The United States have also declared that they are
“unwilling that any cessions of land
should be made to them , unless with
the full understanding and full assent of the tribe making such cession, and for a just and adequate
consideration,” &c. But, in this case, a title is contended to have been
acquired without any understanding or assent of our nation, but by treating
with a tribe far distant , and with whom all political connexion [sic]
has long since been absolved–ever since it was a tribe.

It will also be seen, by
reference to the first article of the treaty of 1819, with the Cherokees, that,
after providing a home for those who desired to withdraw themselves, it is
stipulated, the lands then ceded “are in full satisfaction of all claims which
the United States have on them on account of the cession to a part of their
nation who have, or may hereafter
emigrate to Arkansas.” Consequently, it is unjust to claim now more lands, on account of those who have
since migrated, under a treaty not binding on our nation. The United States
having also solemnly guarantied to the “Cherokee Nation” all its lands, and not
to the citizens severally, it is unreasonable to suppose that they can or will
attempt, in accordance with the letter and principals of this guarantee, to
induce a few persons to remove, and then claim, in proportion, what might be
supposed was their interest when
united to the whole population, which, taken collectively, compose the
“Cherokee Nation.”

Under the solemn pledges to
prevent intrusions upon these lands, thus guarantied, we cannot but believe,
and do consider all such white families as have entered and located themselves
in the nation, whether under the sanction of State authority or not, to be
intruders; and, as such, subject to the penalties prescribed by the intercourse
laws of the United States.

We, Therefore, earnestly pray
that your honorable bodies will consider the subject the present session of
Congress; and if, upon investigation, it be found that the request of your
memorialists be just, we humbly hope their removal will not be delayed.And, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c.

GEORGE LOWRY, Cherokee Delegation

LEWIS ROSS,

WILLIAM HICKS,

R. TAYLOR,

JOSEPH VANN

WM. S. COODEY

Washington City,
3d May, 1830

Curator Notes

Type:

Exact Title: "Memorial of a Delegation of the Cherokee Nation of Indians"Periodical: Volume: Page(s):

Year: 10183Probable Date:

Description: 21st Congress, 1st Session, Report No. 397

Author/Creator: Cherokee Delegation

Publisher: United States GovernmentPlace of Publication: Washington, D.C.